Three new public parks planned

PHUKET: The island may get three new public parks under the Cabinet’s “One Tambon, One Park” initiative.

The Phuket office of the Royal Forestry Department is to ask its national HQ at the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives for permission to create “Pa Bangkanun” in Tambon Thepkrasattri, Thalang District; “Khao Toh Se” in Tambon Rassada, Muang District, and “Khao Phanthurat” in Tambon Koh Kaew, Thalang District.

The first project the Phuket office will submit for approval is the Pa Bangkanun one, with a budget of 630,000 baht. The completed park would cover 64 hectares.

The aim of One Tambon, One Park initiative, which was approved by the Cabinet last October, is to have one park of at least 8,000 square meters in each tambon in the country.

Phuket has 13 tambons, but just three have been chosen to pilot the initiative in the province.

Phuket Forestry Office Chief Phoppon Siriluksanapong told the Gazette, “We will send the proposal for the first project to Bangkok soon. We are sure it will be approved and we will start construction during this year.

“If the Ministry goes on to approve Khao Toh Se and Khao Phanthurat, those two parks will be finished within the next two years, and we are looking to create a fourth park in either Patong or Kamala.”

The new parks would be the first to be created by the Phuket Forestry Office; Phuket’s existing parks are the responsibility of the Provincial Administration Organization and Phuket Municipality.